Authentic Jamaican Jerk Tofu Recipe (Grill or Pan Fry) (2024)

Jerk recipes were a staple in my home growing up, but not with tofu. Today, we are combining my love of jerk flavor from my childhood with tofu for this delicious, authentic Jamaican jerk tofu recipe.

I’ll be honest, I had to call my mom up for this one. I wanted her decades of experience in making this one and wanted to make her proud with flavor that we know you’ll love as well.

We will be making the jerk sauce completely from scratch but this recipe comes together insanely quickly and then we just let it marinate, which is the hardest part!

The jerk sauce that we’ll be showing you makes approximately 2 cups of mixture, so you won’t be using the entire recipe here. Good news is though, if store properly you can use it on a variety and recipes and it will last for 2-3 months stored in your fridge.

What makes a jerk sauce jerk?

Jerk seasoning, marinades, and recipes are a specific set of ingredients that are native to Jamaica cooking. It can be a dry rub or a wet marinade. Jerk sauce is a spicy mixture that includes scotch bonnet peppers, allspice berries, and thyme, in addition to other ingredients.

While it is traditionally used for chicken, lamb or pork, we are using the recipe for tofu, but vegans could also use jackfruit, mushrooms, cauliflower, and more.

Never miss another post! Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get them all delivered easily! Plus, 15 easy recipes delivered immediately!
Sign Up For My Newsletter Today!

JERK TOFU INGREDIENTS:

Below are notes about the main ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make these vegan jerk tofu:

• Pimenta berries ( allspice berries) – This is a Caribbean spice that is harvested and then dried from the pimento tree. They are called allspice because the flavor profile is similar to multiple spices in one including, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
• Brown sugar – Beyond adding just a little bit of sweetness to the marinade, sugar helps to neutralize spice as the sugar crystals absorb some of the capsaicin oils and balance the flavors well
• Yellow onion and Garlic – the base of so base dishes because they produce the aromatics. Onions produce a sweetness as cook and garlic mellows things out.
• Scotch bonnet peppers – this is an essential ingredient in many Jamaican dishes, but especially jerk. This is a very spicy chile with a rating between 100,000 and 350,000 units on the Scoville scale, which is similar to a habanero for reference and are around the same size as well.
• Browning or molasses – Browning sauce is an extremely important pantry staple in Caribbean cooking. It adds flavors with its unique blend of ingredients. While it’s fairly easy to find in major grocery stores, if you can’t find it, we recommend using molasses instead.
• Tofu – The star of the show! You want to use an extra firm block of tofu for this recipe

The other ingredients listed in the recipe are all carefully chosen and selected and passed down from generations of cooks.

Substitutions and Variations:

• Seasonings – If you didn’t want to make a sauce from scratch you could use store bought Jerk marinade. Obviously, we recommend making from scratch as the flavors of fresh jerk sauce can’t be beat
• Brown sugar – swap with coconut sugar if needed
• Scotch bonnet peppers – It’s actually different to find scotch bonnet peppers in many places outside the Caribbean. If you are having a hard time locating, you can swap with habanero
• Soy sauce – you could swap with coconut aminos or tamari if that’s what you have on have
• Tofu – obviously this whole dish is based around tofu, but you could also use seitan, jackfruit, oyster mushrooms, chickpeas, cauliflower and more with this recipe

Frequently Asked Questions:

Tips for making the perfect tofu:

WHAT IS THE BEST TYPE OF TOFU TO USE?

We prefer extra firm tofu for this recipe and would highly recommend using that.

This recipe will also work with firm tofu if needed.

We do not advise using silken or soft tofu for this recipe.

WHY SHOULD I FREEZE TOFU FIRST?

Freezing tofu gives it a more meat-like texture. While this isn’t a requirement, we highly recommend doing it this way.

Freeze to tofu in the store packaging. Then remove and let thaw completely before adding it to a tofu press to drain (see below)

HOW DO I PRESS OUT TOFU?

The easiest way to press out tofu is to use a tofu press. We use thistofu pressbecause it’s easy to use and works great.

However, if you don’t have a tofu press then you could wrap the block of tofu in a kitchen towel, place it on a plate, and then put something heavy on top like a cast iron skillet.

Pin this jerk tofu for later!